About 2.5 million Ghanaians currently have no place to call their home. This is the official emerging from the demand and supply of housing units, excluding those outside the market forces.

Announcing details of the statistics in Accra yesterday, Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister, Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, said the annual demand for housing in the country ranged between 300,000 and 500,000 units, while supply figures ranged between 25,000 and 40,000 units per annum.

He stated that there was a shortage of 500,000 units and in Ghana, on the average each home was occupied by five persons, and this brought the total to 2.5 million.

Speaking at his turn at the Weekly Meet-the-Press in Accra yesterday, Mr Owusu-Agyemang attributed the problem to rapid population growth and an uncontrollable rate of urbanization.

He also dropped the hint that the ministry had been redesignated as Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing to emphasize the importance the government attached to the water sector. He said to address the imbalances, the government made a provision of ?150 billion in the 2005 budget from the HIPC Fund for the construction of affordable houses throughout the country.

It has started with the construction of 113 four-storey blocks which would contain 1,138 units of flats at Borteyman, near Nungua in the Greater Accra Region. He said when completed, the houses would be sold at ?92 million for one bedroom flat and ?120 million for two-bedroom flats. He also stated that others would be available for rentals. Mr Owusu Agyemang said in addition to the introduction of targeted subsidy to assist workers such as civil servants, the police, the military and other security officers to own flats, there were discussions with some banks to see how they could support workers with affordable mortgages to purchase some of the flats.

To further minimize the pressure, the minister said the ministry was considering the establishment of well maintained hostels for the homeless and the disadvantage such as porters (kaya yei). The cut down cost and also to save the environment, the minister said the sand for the project would be collected by dredging the Densu River. He said to replicate the ongoing housing construction projects in all the regional capitals and the districts, all regional ministers had been asked to acquire lands for the purpose.

Mr Owusu Agyemang said foreign investors had shown interest in the project, and that the ministry had therefore, signed memoranda of understanding (MOU) with a number of them. He stated that the ministry had commenced discussions with the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to provide money for the construction of affordable houses for workers.

Under the Redevelopment of Government Residential Properties Project, the minister said, some old buildings sited on large plots of land had been pulled down to give way to new dense housing development, thereby ensuring effective and efficient utilization of the land as well as beautifying the inner city landscape. He said a total of 113 new bungalows and flats had been constructed in place of 61 old ones.

Mr Agyemang said the Architectural and Engineering Services Company Limited (AESCL) and the Public Works Department (PWD) had been tasked to inspect and assess all abandoned government projects for rehabilitation. On the question of the Korle-Legon Ecological Restoration Project (KLERP), the minister said the government had not abandoned the project.